Rethink Consult

Before we establish strategies on how to develop resilience it is important to understand what holds us back from making informed, and rational decisions which impact how we move forward.

This episode examines cognitive biases and explores why too much information, not enough meaning, the need to act fast and what should we remember influences our decisions process.

This episode explores how we fail to recognise our own biases!

The world is very confusing, and we end up only seeing a tiny sliver of it.
We need to make some sense of it in order to survive. The Not Enough Meaning quadrant groups together biases on our propensity to notice things already primed in memory or repeated often.

We’re all constrained by time, so we make shortcuts when looking at information and data to make our lives easier. Without the ability to act fast in the face of uncertainty, we surely would have perished as a species long ago.

With access to too much information we can only afford to store information that may prove useful in the future. We need to make constant trade-offs around what we try to remember and what we forget.

This episode examines the seven barriers to Resilience and unpacks the reasons for humanity’s inertia in the face of critical threats and how we might remove them.

This episode examines the third reason for inertia. As humans we often perceive risks asymmetrically, that is, we often apportion more weight to risks that may not warrant concern and less weight to those things are potentially life threatening.

To manage risks, we must be aware and alert to being manipulated by media, public relations and vested interests vying for our attention and money. The media, corporations and vested interests play an important role in shaping narratives and managing public opinion, not always in the best interes...

In this module we examine some of the broader trends and risks which have been manifesting over recent decades. By understanding these trends we can start to develop strategies and solutions which are based in reality.

In this section I want to focus on highlighting one of the key variables which will is and will increasingly shape our future, economically, political and geopolitically. It is crucial to understand the embedded nature of resources in our modern civilisation.

For most of us we have almost no awareness as to the influence crude oil plays within our lives. Crude oil and its benefits cut across every aspect of business, community, government and society in general. It is important to understand how embedded oil is within our modern economy and understand...

The connection between energy and the economy is highly correlated, yet most economists fail to mention the importance of energy within economic systems. We will have a quick look at how energy has shaped our modern civilisation so we are better prepared for the future.

Often technology and energy are grouped in the same basket, when they are very different things. It is important to differentiate between the two. Technology is actually an energy user. Solar panels and wind turbines convert sun and wind energy into a usable source.

To help explain why we have many converging challenges, economically, environmentally and socially it is crucial to understand the role debt plays in facilitating these.

In this episode we examine linear and non-linear patterns. We also look at some of the possible impacts and drivers for a changing environment and some of the current trends we are seeing play out.

In this module we examine the fundamentals of resilience and some of the strategies used to build resilience into systems, organisations and communities.

Modularity is the second fundamental in helping build resilience which helps in managing connectivity.

The fourth fundamental of reliance is, Resourcefulness. This refers to the ability to adapt to crises, respond flexibly and – when possible – transform a negative impact into a positive.

Response refers to the ability to mobilize quickly in the face of crises.
This component of resilience assesses whether an organization has adequate methods for gathering relevant information from all parts of associated systems and communicating the relevant data and information to others,

Recovery and bounce is possibly the most important aspect of resilience and the most action orientated.

This module provides some strategies on how we can more effectively and articulately communicate to others and get stronger cut through with our messaging.

We need some tools to help us motivate change. Everything changes, everything. So how do we change and how can we facilitate change?
Changing one's paradigm isn’t always that easy.

This module examines how do we motivate change.

Stories are a powerful way to communicate as they make a point, are memorable and create meaningful emotional connections.

People often underestimate the power of incentives. In our modern world most people are driven by some form of monetary or financial gain. Incentives don’t necessarily have to be financial in nature as we will see later in this module.

Win-win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions. Win-win means that agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial, mutually satisfying.

Agency is the capacity to take action through our own motivation and not being inhibited or controlled by external forces. The ability to move forward with autonomy, purpose, and meaning is important in helping people achieve their full potential.

One of the biggest challenges individuals and organisations have is, is in how to get the message across in a succinct and compelling manner. A powerfully reframed message is the key to motivating change.

While it is important to be optimistic one of the drawbacks is the danger of unrelenting optimism. Optimism must be tempered with realist and achievable goals and solutions as opposed to wishful thinking which could be counterproductive.

This episode looks at what some regions communities are doing to build resilience. While these examples look at things from a community perspective, they are nevertheless applicable and translatable at a organisational and business level.

Localising food is a huge part of building resilience for any town, community, region and country. There are numerous economic benefits of developing local food initiatives with opportunities for innovation cutting across many sectors

The prospect for developing new products, services and businesses models as we move into a resource constrained world offers creative opportunities for industry, local government and community organisations.

Let's have a look at some projects that have a focus on bringing communities together and upskilling people to create positive change.

Food production and agriculture is crucial to our health, way of life and overall wellbeing. Hence, it is going to be increasingly more important as we move away from highly intensive and industrial food systems.